DARICE GARDNER

The idea for delivering flowers to nursing homes through the month of May in honor of Mother’s Day was initiated by her church; however, she was inspired to take part in this experience by her passion to make a difference. Sure it took a lot of time out of her day, but once she saw how happy and cheerful it made all the people, and how it touched their lives, all the time invested was more than worth it.

Every Saturday, throughout the month of May, some people from her church and Darice visit nursing homes for about seven hours each time to give some flowers to the mothers. She purchased flowers for everyone that they had talked to at the nursing homes. She recruited for people support and assistance for buying and giving out the flowers.

She was able to touch the lives of the residents and improve them to the point where they would look forward to Saturdays in the month of May each year. There are about twenty people involved in delivering flowers to the elderly. While there was not any direct fundraising to purchase the flowers, the church and the community came together to make sure their was enough funding to give out the flowers yearly.

There was a great feeling of satisfaction for Darice as well as others that were involved. Spearheading, the project was every rewarding to Darice because she was not only able to learn communication skills but it felt rewarding to touch someone’s life in a simple but strong way. As one resident said, “Saturdays keep me going” will remain with Darice for the rest of her life.

Darice wants to continue to make a difference at her church and in her community and to lead by example for those young people in her community.